You are here

I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am

I exist between satin sheets and swim whiskey rivers. I am looking for adventure and whatever comes my way. She told me not to smoke it, but I did—and it took me far away. I soar on silver wings and hang out with honky-tonk heroes like me. I’ve sold my diamond rings to buy boots and faded jeans, and I went back to the wild side of life. I was once an ordinary girl with ordinary dreams. I rule a smoky kingdom. I have tied a red bandana around my auburn hair, been busted flat in Baton Rouge, and got run over by a damned old train.

I have taken the midnight train to Memphis, only God knows why … I have walked into a restaurant strung out from the road and I have seen a husband driven to drinkin’ in a hot rod Lincoln. I have been known to visit fist city and I stand barefooted in my own front yard quite frequently as well. I’ve heard that train a’coming as it rolls around the bend and I park my big ol’ hog out on the lawn. I enjoy takin’ my ol’ Harley on a three day cruise, drivin’ my Chevy on the levee, wanting to go where everybody knows my name, driftin’ down the dusty Dixie road, rollin down the road in some cold blue steel, and workin’ ten hours on a John Deere tractor.

I adore goin’ downtown in the middle of the night, sportin short dresses wearing spike-heeled shoes, smokin’ lucky strikes and wearin’ nylons too. I was raised crusin’ in daddy’s pick up truck, doin’ things with my hands that most men can’t, and I like being the young thing beside him that understands. I have one more silver dollar. I have built an emerald city from grains of sand. He has touched my cheek before he left me. There ain’t no kinda cure for my disease. A man of low esteem has stood by my side and you never met a motherf—r quite like me. I can make folks feel what I feel inside and I know it’s a long, hard ride.